Northeast quake rattles residents: ‘A roller coaster under my house’

(NEW YORK) — The 4.8 magnitude earthquake that rattled the tristate area Friday morning left residents doubting what they had just experienced.

“I felt like there was a roller coaster under my house going 1,000 miles an hour,” Carol Nicolaidis of Brooklyn, New York, told ABC News. “I first thought pipes were exploding under my house.”

The earthquake that hit New Jersey Friday morning could be felt as far south as Washington, D.C., and as far north as Maine, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

“I was sitting in my living room and I saw the walls shaking; it felt like a wave,” Nicolaidis said.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called the quake one of the largest on the East Coast in the last century.

There have been no reports of injuries or major infrastructure damage, according to New York City Mayor Eric Adams. But there were reports of “limited damage” in Lebanon, New Jersey, near the quake’s epicenter.

Students at New York’s Rye Country Day School thought the earthquake was “the coolest thing ever,” Gail Sestito, dean of Grades 7 and 8 and a middle school science instructor, told ABC News.

“Many said they saw the lights shaking a little and the smart board vibrate. But mostly we heard it — sounded like students running down the hall,” she said.

There’s a 46% chance there could be an aftershock of over 3.0 in magnitude within the next week, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

“If you feel an aftershock, drop to the floor, cover your head and neck, and take cover under a solid piece of furniture, next to an interior wall, or in a doorway,” Adams said in a statement.

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